Shin Yeh Visited 4/15/2014 4 Forks

Shin Yeh 5F, No. 11, Songshou Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City (Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Branch A11 Buildling) Taipei, Taiwan

For anyone who has read this blog for a while, you will know that I am a huge sucker for a good buffet.  Yes - I know it's kind of tacky and low brow but there's just something about it that I just love. What's even more enticing is an Asian buffet.  My mom and I had tried to go to Shin Yeh last year when I was in Taiwan but the timing just didn't work out, so luckily this time we were able to find time for it.  They have a regular lunch buffet from 11:30-2:30, a lightly reduced option for less money from 2:30-4:30 and then a dinner option.  We decided to go to the regular lunch option since the timing just worked better for us. 

What's great about this place is the variety of yummy and distincly Asian options.  There's a sushi bar where they make hand rolls, regular rolls, sushi and sashimi.  There's a cold seafood station with New Zealand green mussels and shrimp cocktail.  There's a warm station with shrimp and veggie tempura, fried eggplant and fish jaw.  They also had a carving station, soup station, salad bar and full dessert bar.  So it's almost impossible to not find something to eat here.  I was still recovering from the stomach flu but I was so excited at all the possibilities that I had to try almost everything they had.  While the sushi wasn't 5 star quality, it was just as good as a standard neighborhood joint.  I thought the mussels were fantastic - very plump and easy to eat.  The shrimp was of the sweet variety and still had the head on - but there wasn't much to suck out of it.  But what I loved the most of the fish jaw.  For those who don't eat whole fish often, the secret is that some of the best meat is in the head/cheek/jaw area.  In the US, if you go to a nice Japanese place and order the jaw, it can easily cost you $14+ a dish.  So clearly I went to town and had about 3 pieces here.  I was so stuffed from trying (and coming back for 2nds and 3rds) of all the savory foods that I couldn't manage the dessert bar.  I'm usually not a big fan of Asian dessert although I think the ones here were more Western style.  I finished my meal with some nice watermelon slices.   Oh and before I forget, this buffet also comes with unlimited red or white wine and what looked like shots of Chinese whiskey.  So totally easy to get wasted here too. 

While I was in town for a sad reason, I was glad that I was able to finally check this place out before I left.  It's a bit bittersweet to think that I may not return to Taiwan ever or at least in a long time and despite all my bitching and complaining, I can't deny that Taiwan has some of the world's best and cheapest food out there.   Total bill:  $50 for 2 people 

Photo Credit:  Tripadvisor

Harumi Sushi Visited 4/10/2014 Unable to Rate

Harumi Sushi 114 W Adams St., Ste C101, Phoenix, AZ 85003

So what's with the Unable to Rate deal you may ask.  Well, unfortunately a few hours after I had lunch here I felt really sick and got a bad case of the stomach flu for the next few days.  I wasn't feeling too great before I came here but things got really bad after I left here.  So obviously if I picked up something from some unwashed food here, I can't in good conscious give it a good rating.  However, where I'm torn is that I actually really liked the sushi here. 

But to back up a bit.  My first impression of this place was a bit iffy.  It's not really a restaurant but more cafeteria style where you order at a counter and then they bring it to your table - so it was just not something I was really expecting at a sushi place.  Also another interesting fact here is that they only use purple rice which they believe has added health benefits.  I decided to order the H3 roll ($13) which was spicy tuna, spicy salmon, spicy yellowtail, avocado, cucumber, tobiko, eel sauce and spicy mayo and the crazy roll ($9) which had fresh tuna, salmon, yellowtail, avocado and spicy sauce.  So both rolls were very similar but both sounded tasty to me.  I figured these were regular sized rolls, so I asked if they had a small house salad which I didn't see on the menu.  The waitress said they could put something together ($5) which I said ok.  In retrospect, I wish I hadn't ordered the "salad" because it was just shredded lettuce, some cucumber and sesame dressing on it.  The shredded lettuce just made it seem really low budget and cheap.  I didn't finish it and left room for the rolls.  When they came out I was shocked, only because there were so many pieces! Most places usually give you 6 or sometimes 8 pieces but this place gave you 10 fairly large pieces.  I couldn't believe it.  If I had known, I would have only gotten 1 roll because I ended up taking home over 8 pieces with me.  I was a bit skeptical of the purple rice, but it was totally fine and didn't taste too different.  I thought the rolls were innovative and very tasty and I was actually looking forward to having the rest of it for dinner.  Unfortunately that never happened and I ended up throwing it away because I was so sick. 

So sadly I feel like I can't rate this place properly.  I would say it's probably still worth checking out mostly because it's a different type of sushi but just go in with an open mind.  Total bill:  $36 with tax, tip and a soda

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Gallo Blanco Visited 4/9/2014 2 Forks

Gallo Blanco 401 W Clarendon Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85013

I was excited to try another Mexican place in Phoenix and I was even more jazzed when Michael's friend mentioned that this place served one of his favorite sandwiches, the naco torta - which was described as a sandwich grilled rib eye with a fried egg and avocado.  Yum! 

The restaurant is actually inside the Clarendon Hotel and it was totally hoppin when we arrived on a random Wednesday night.  We had originally asked the waitress if we could sit outside and she said it would be a 5 minute wait.  Ok, no biggie.  So we wait and we then calls us over and walks us to our table - which was inside.  We had to stop and remind her that we wanted to sit outside and she was like "oh, yeah, sorry!".  That should have been our first clue that the service was going to be off that night.  Then we notice all the commotion at the tables next to us and the waiter and other stuff apologizing profusely.  That should have been our other clue.  Then we waited and waited and waited until finally someone comes over to take our drink order.  Then we waited and waited and waited for our drinks to actually show up and Michael comments on how they are now half the size they used to be before.  I start to notice that the table next to us is quite agitated because their waiter was MIA and they then proceed to walk over to the serving station, get a pitcher of water and re-fill their own glasses.  Clearly, it was just a really bad service night.  Even though this place is known of tacos, I decided to get that yummy sounding sandwich ($10) that Carlos had mentioned plus a small mixed green salad ($5) and we split a guacamole for the table ($6.50).

Usually I say that guacamole is really hard to get wrong but this one wasn't all that great.  It was very lumpy and had large chunks of citrus fruit it in that I thought was a bit weird.  Plus it was missing salt to it.  While I ate it, I can't say that it was a great guacamole.  The salad was pretty decent although it might have been too heavily dressed for my liking.  As for the sandwich, it had such potential but it was a letdown.  First, the bun was way to bread-y and big.  Even though I'm not afraid of carbs at all, I had to just stop eating the bun as some point because it was just too much carbs.  The rib eye was also too chopped up and it was hard to hold together all the pieces of meat.  By having it so cut up, it really allowed the meat to dry out quickly and it wasn't as moist or juicy as I would have liked.  Plus I felt like they skimped on the avocado.  The slices were too small, at least in relation to the huge bun.  At this point I wished I had ordered the fish tacos instead.  I did like the fried egg component but it wasn't enough to really make the sandwich a winner in my book.

Maybe it was an off night for this place or maybe it was a sign of things to come but the overall experience that night wasn't a great one.  I can see how it could have been a great place and I liked how everything sounded on the menu but the execution of the food and the service were just not on point that night.  Total bill:  $30/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Thai Basil Signature Visited 4/9/2014 3 Forks

Thai Basil Signature 114 W Adams St, Ste 104, Phoenix, AZ 85003

Day two of my conference and I was having a hankering for Asian food and luckily stumbled upon this Thai place randomly while looking for another restaurant.  I have always had a soft spot for Thai lunch specials in NYC, so I was curious if a Thai place in Phoenix would have the same deal.  And sure enough they did.  This place is smack in the middle of downtown Phoenix so it was full of people on their lunch break and a few of us from the conference. 

Their menu has the usual line-up for Thai dishes:  pad thai, curries, fried rice, drunken noodles, etc. You get a spring roll and soup included in your meal as well.  While I usually would just go for a pad thai, I was in the mood for a broad flat noodle and got the spicy noodles with shrimp ($9.95) and a thai ice tea.  I chose that dish over the drunken noodle because it had all the same vegetables as the drunken noodle but it also had bean sprouts too which I love.  I guess I didn't read the menu too carefully because I soon discovered that the spicy noodle was a pan fried skinny noodle and not the wide noodle kind.  Opps, that was my bad.  They first serve you a clear vegetable soup, which honestly with the heat I would have preferred a salad instead but it was totally fine.  The noodle and spring roll came out on the same plate and it was a pretty good sized dish of noodles.  I had asked for medium spicy but it still had a big kick to it.  Again, it was totally my fault for not reading the menu more carefully but I was disappointed that it was the wide noodle but it was totally fine with the skinny noodles.  It was really just your basic standard spicy noodle dish.  Nothing bad nothing great.  It got the job done in terms of filling me up and satisfying my craving.  The shrimp were decent sized and cooked well and the vegetables were aplenty on the dish.  

All in all, I'm glad I found this place and it was a nice affordable lunch option compared to my almost $30 Pizza Bianco experience the other day.  Next time I'll just learn to read the menu more carefully or just stick with a pad thai option.  Total bill:  $15 with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Geisha A Go Go Visited 4/8/2014 3.5 Forks

Geisha A Go Go   7150 E 6th Ave., Scottsdale, AZ 85250

Who doesn't love a good happy hour? So I was pretty psyched when Michael suggested this place that was walking distance from my hotel and right in the middle of downtown Scottsdale for happy hour here (3-7pm).   During this time, all appetizers, house maki, sake bombs, specialty drinks and seasonal wine/sake are half off.  Yes, this place is cheesy, it also kind of sexualizes Asians and is most definitely not a purist type of sushi place but hey, I just took it in stride.

I wasn't sure what house maki meant and was worried that it was going to be a choice of like 3 blah rolls but it was a choice of over 15 different kinds of rolls ranging from your basic california roll to soft shell crab roll.  They did have a list of really insane specialty rolls (with totally ridiculous names like Geisha Lips and Harajuku Lover - did I also mention this place is also a karaoke place too?)  but since they weren't a part of happy hour I didn't even bother to look at them.  I opted for the rainbow roll (regularly $10.75) and the spicy yellowtail roll (regularly $6.50) while Michael got the edamame (regularly $4), the  chicken lettuce wrap (regularly $10) and the gyoza (regularly $7).   There was also a very long list of good sounding appetizers to choose from so if I ever come back here, I would totally mix it up and order some sushi and some appetizers to make it a full on meal.   We also managed to sneak in two rounds of the Kinki Kooler (regularly $9) before happy hour closed.  The Kinki Kooler was Stoli Strawberry, fresh slices of kiwi, lime and soda - it basically tasted like candy.  I'm not even sure how much alcohol was in it but it was a fun refreshing drink for a hot afternoon.  I was a bit weary of the sushi but honestly they were surprisingly good.  The spicy yellowtail was the chopped up version (no spicy mayo on the top) and the rainbow roll was just as good as any basic sushi place in NYC.  I didn't try Michael's food (except for the edamame which were totally fine - well boiled in that they still had some crunch to it and salted well) but they looked like good snackies for happy hour.  The lettuce wrap was a make-your-own version where they give you all the ingredients and a plate of lettuce and you wrap as little or as much filling as you want.

All in all, despite the incredibly cheesy vibe and name of the food and drinks, this place is a super fun place to go for happy hour.  Obviously it's not on the level of a Sushi Nakazawa or even a Yama but at half price, you absolutely can't go wrong here.  Total price:  $42 for 2 people including drinks, tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Pizzeria Bianco Visited 4/8/2014 3.5 Forks

Pizzeria Bianco 623 E Adams St, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Ok, I kind of lied in my last review.  I did know about 1 famous restaurant in Phoenix and it's Pizzeria Bianco.  It's written up in many many blogs and websites as being one, if not the best,  pizza place in the country. I know, how weird, right? The best pizza place is in Phoenix?  So I had to try it out myself to judge. Luckily it was right down the street from the convention center which is where my conference was.  So it was an easy 7 minute walk over and apparently I got there at the perfect time (around 2pm) because there was no line and I had my pick of seats inside or outside.  Apparently during it's busiest hours the wait can be more than 2 hours long. 

The place is cute enough with a nice outdoor patio/cafe area and a pretty small indoor area with a brick pizza oven in the middle of the place.  When I looked at the menu it immediately reminded me of Roberta's in Brooklyn.  In fact, the whole vibe of the place reminded me of Roberta's just minus the hipsters.  I started with the local organic green salad ($6) and then was torn about what kind of pizza to get.  They are all of the thin crust variety and all sounded pretty tasty but I decided on the wiseguy ($18) mostly because it was the only pizza that came with sausage.  When I ordered it, the waiter mentioned that it was a white pizza meaning that it had no sauce and he wanted to make sure that I was ok with it.   I honestly didn't even think about it but when he said it, it kind of made me think that I wanted something with tomato sauce on it.  He mentioned that I could order half and half, which was a nice idea, so I went for half of the margherita - which is your standard pizza of fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil.  The organic salad was nice and fresh and I really enjoyed the red wine vinaigrette that it was dressed with.  I just kind of wish that there was something more than just greens to it - some tomatoes or mushrooms would have been nice.  Next came the pizza.  At first I was worried that I wouldn't be able to finish it by myself and I was staying at a hotel that had a mini fridge the size of my foot so there wouldn't be any place to store leftovers.  But that ended up not being an issue.  The pizza is very very thin, so even though it's cut into about 6 slices, they aren't very filling on their own. I tried the wiseguy side first and it came with roasted onion, house smoke mozzarella, and fennel sausage. Despite not having any tomato sauce, it was very flavorful and each was tasty bite.  The fennel flavoring to the sausage was a nice touch.  As for the margherita side, it was what you would expect of a margherita pizza.  It was good and I was glad I was able to have half a pie of it but I was glad I didn't get a whole pie of it because it would have been a bit boring on its own.   My one small gripe about the pizza was that there wasn't enough cheese on it.  I know, traditional Italian pizza isn't drowning in cheese either, but just a bit more gooey cheese would have been nice. 

While the food here was fresh and I had a very enjoyable lunch, I'm not sure I would say it's the best pizza in the country (in fact I still think Roberta's is better) nor would I ever wait over 2 hours to eat here.   But if you happen to find yourself by the convention center and can come on an off hour, it's definitely worth a stroll over.  Total price:  $28 with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Blanco Tacos and Tequila Visited 4/7/2014 3 Forks

Blanco Tacos and Tequila 2502 E Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016

I'll be honest and say that I don't know much about the Phoenix food scene, so when I was headed there for almost a week for work and a conference, I had no clue as to where to go.  The only thing I knew was that it was probably worth trying Mexican food there.  My first night there also coincided with the NCAA Finals so I had wanted to go to a place that also had a few TVs for me to catch the game.  Enter Blanco.  Eric actually found it on Yelp and it was about a 5 minute drive from my hotel, was Mexican food, had TVs AND outdoor seating, so I was down with everything that I heard about it.

The one nice thing about Phoenix during this time of the year was that the weather was fairly pleasant. It was about 85 degrees but it was a nice dry heat and I love the fact that almost every place had an open air feeling to it.  The menu here is as you would have expected:  nachos, guacamole, burritos, enchiladas, tacos and a few other main entrees.  Eric and I split the nachos (regularly $12 but we just made it under the wire for happy hour where appetizers are half price) to start since we were starving and I opted for the fish tacos ($13.50).  The nachos were served with guacamole, crema fresca, black beans, sour cream and pico de gallo...so kind of your typical nacho dish except the creama fresca was this weird white melty cheese instead of the neon yellow kind or even the freshly grated kind.  It was kind of what you expected from bar nachos.  The fish tacos were 3 to the dish and served with avocado and pico de gallo and served with rice and beans.  The fish was of your generic grilled white fish variety and the tacos were of the corn variety (although you can also ask for flour tortillas) - they were perfectly fine fish tacos but they didn't blow my mind like the ones I had at ABC Cocina.  Despite being full, Eric and I still left room for dessert and since I wasn't dying for dessert, we tried to go with Eric's choice of the sopaillas which are essentially fried donuts.  But just our luck, as soon as our waitress put in our order they "ran out".  Boo! So we opted for the flan instead ($5).  So here is what I loved about the dinner...the chef actually came out of the kitchen to personally apologize about running out of the sopaillas and even compted us for the flan.  I thought that was so incredibly nice of him and totally unnecessary.  I don't know if that is AZ charm or what but I really did appreciate the nice gesture.  In fact, the service all around was pretty great.  When Eric asked for a coke, they said "Is Pepsi ok?" and they must have realized it wasn't, so the manager actually went into their staff fridge and brought Eric a coke - again a nice and totally unnecessary gesture.

While I didn't think the food was anything spectacular and sadly the drinks were pretty bad (don't order the white sangria unless you like drinking sugar through a straw), the setting and service were on point for what I was looking for.  From what I heard, this place is a chain in AZ and normally I'm not a huge fan of chain restaurants but I would probably come back to this place if I was back in AZ and just wanted a nice place to chill out.  Total bill with tips, tax and drinks:  $83/pp

Photo Credit:  Yelp